A place of retreat for this mother of seven (currently fighting Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer) to speak on the joys and challenges of life for a Catholic family immersed in American culture.

Monday, September 03, 2012

Always a Student

I have learned several things this month that I thought I would share with you. In no particular order...

First, I learned that there is such a thing as "right" and "left" socks. Imagine my surprise when Joey, who has always been particular about his socks (I remember hours of preschool torture when his sock seam wasn't lined up properly), rejected his folded and paired socks because I put two right and two left socks together. Seriously?!

My first reaction was, "You're kidding, right?" Socks don't have rights and lefts, they are simply socks! Plus, it is hard enough to keep socks for 9 people straight without adding THAT particular complication! He looked at me like I was the dumbest person on earth (he is fourteen, you know) and set me straight immediately with an exaggerated show of pointing out the microscopic R and L printed on the toe. I hung my head in horror when I realized that not only had I given in to buying this ridiculously overpriced brand of sock because my budding football star's feet were uncomfortable in "regular" socks, but that I had created a right and left nightmare for myself in the process. What a dummy I am.

The second thing I learned is that school assignments are no longer turned in on actual paper. Joey's first real high school assignment is due tomorrow, and I only just learned that it has to be submitted online through a plagiarizing-detecting website. What?! Back in the olden days when I was in high school, I didn't even type papers. There was no internet to cheat off of. There was certainly no way to check that it wasn't someone else's work. I have now been educated that there is a whole new world of cheating now, thanks to the world wide web, and these are the lengths to which we must go to keep our kids honest. Who'da thunk it?

The last and likely most important thing I learned this month is that I need help. Real, extended help. You have no idea how difficult it is for me to admit this, especially since I feel I am getting stronger every month. Nonetheless, my amazing and ever supportive family, extended family, and friends, who have gone to great lengths to help me every day with all sorts of things ranging from rides to meal prep to laundry and endless childcare, have at last convinced me that my situation is unsustainable. Even with my army of helpers, I fall further and further behind in my household chores and in caring for my family. As I am finally realizing that it is statistically (not divinely) unlikely that I will ever be much stronger than I am now, I have accepted his reluctantly.

So, beginning Wednesday, I will have that help. Through a wonderful and trusted reference, I will have someone here with me Monday through Thursday in the afternoons, when I am most tired, to help me with laundry, cooking, grocery shopping and child deliveries as needed. This will take some burden off of those who help me so much (and aren't getting any younger, as one of my parents put it) and it will allow me to spend more time with my kids, which is what I really want to do. I can help them with their homework, hopefully be more cheerful instead of snappy and tired, and be generally less stressed and upset about all the things I can't do. I can say yes when my kids ask me to play board games with them or read to them because I won't be falling asleep on my feet at 7pm. And guess what?! I should have more energy to blog. Let's hope!

4 comments:

Jen Savard
said...

I too fell victim to the "left and right socks"!! I HATE those socks. It has prompted me to just throw them in a sock bucket and let Jeff find them! All of Hannah's assignments have been turned in online and she loves it! As someone who did her homework but would lose it sometime during the middle of the night this works well for her. As she puts it...college is AWESOME for the ADD kid!